


Drafts & Drabbles: ML Discord CAM

by theriveroflight



Series: ML Fanfic Discord Character Appreciation Month [7]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Character Death, Drabble Collection, Gen, Goodbyes, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:34:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22959532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theriveroflight/pseuds/theriveroflight
Summary: All the short drabbles I wrote and never published on AO3 throughout the month for various reasons, from length to unfinished-ness to disliking it.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Chloé Bourgeois, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Chloé Bourgeois/Félix, Ivan Bruel/Mylène Haprèle, Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Series: ML Fanfic Discord Character Appreciation Month [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1631389
Kudos: 9
Collections: February 2020 - Character Appreciation





	1. February 2nd - Chloe

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter is the Chloe-Felix-Adrien backstory from my fic [ headed straight for the castle.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22424278)
> 
> As of yet, none of this is canon to that fic. I didn't really like this story in hindsight, but I do intend on fixing it after I finish the story.

Adrien and Felix are so far above her, she doesn't know how she has the right to befriend them, has the right to interact with them. They're royalty, and she's just the daughter of two rich people.

But it starts when the three of them are invited over for dinner by Queen Amelie. They're sitting together as the adults talk business, and Chloe thinks  _ these people could be my friends. _

They all go on to show magical talent. Felix and Adrien are on another level compared to her - she isn't an exceptional mage like either of them.

That's why, after the tutors up through 10 years old, she goes to François-Dupont for magical schooling, and they get private tutors. They go up together, up and up and up, leaving Chloe behind.

(They try not to. At least, Adrien doesn't try to.)

Adrien teaches her spells and helps her with her homework and now she isn't the third wheel, isn't the one on the outside.

In hindsight, it's no wonder it's Adrien she loves at first. As much love as someone who's twelve can hold.

She never says anything, really, but Felix still manages to figure it out.

"You like my cousin, right?"

She rolls her eyes.  _ How annoyingly obvious.  _ But she won't deny it.

And in Dupont, there's someone, too. A shining star, as achingly above as Adrien or Felix.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

The prodigy of every class, the best at magic, the greatest the academy's seen in a long time.

Her parents tell her to get better so she can defeat Marinette.

She tells herself to be better so she can reach their elevated level.

(It isn't for Adrien anymore. Her adolescent heart is shifting, shifting away from the childhood she's known all her life.)

Marinette pulls out of Dupont at fourteen. Chloe never says goodbye, isn't given the chance.

She never knew where Marinette went. A lot of students pull out at fourteen - that's when most self-respecting artisans start taking apprentices, and the guard academy takes students as young as that, too.

But she stops by the bakery before going home every day, and Marinette is never at the front counter.

(The clues are there, all along.)

And Chloe realizes around the fifth visit that she  _ did  _ move on from Adrien. To Marinette.

The summer before her last year at Dupont, Aunt Emilie dies.

They never find her body, but light a shroud in her memory. Adrien cries. They're both there for him.

And Gabriel cuts him and Adrien off from the outside world. They move out to the mansion in the countryside, and both Felix and Chloe send songbirds often.

On Adrien's fifteenth birthday, the Agreste mansion is set on fire.

Gabriel's bones are found among the rubble.

Adrien's aren't.

* * *

When Queen Amelie declares that Felix and Chloe are to be wedded, neither object.

Chloe still  _ wants  _ Marinette, but it's toned down, and she thinks she could move on yet again.

After all, the thing Chloe's aspired to most was that transcendent power she never had. And Felix rises above her just as much.

The preparations are made quickly. Felix and Chloe wed, and share a chaste kiss.

Though she doesn't get much from it, it tastes like hope.


	2. February 6th - Pollen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Forever & Always.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was the beginning of the kwami angst.
> 
> Thanks to [ Khan ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khanofallorcs) for helping me decide which verb tense was the best and catching the little grammar errors I made while writing this right before I went to sleep.

_ Est-ce que j'ai dit une chose trop vraie, _

_ il te faisait courir et te cacher _

_ Comme une femme avait peur ? _

_ J'ai regardé dans tes yeux _

_ Je pensais que je te savais pour une minute _

_ Maintenant je ne suis pas certaine _

-Taylor Swift, "Forever & Always" [traduit par moi]

* * *

Chloé était la reine de Pollen.  _ Était _ étant le mot clé.

* * *

Au contre de l'avis populaire, tous les kwamis peuvent sentir ce qui se passait pendant que ses porteurs sont transformés.

C'est parce que les porteurs sont des hommes, et les hommes sont pas parfaits. Elle sait qu'il y a des kwamis que leur réprimandent, mais quelques s'en fout ou ont peur. Elle sait qu'elle est une membre de la dernière groupe, malheureusement. Mais maintenant…elle pourrait pas faire une chose si elle essayé.

* * *

"Ma reine, attendez!" elle dit quand elle fut libérée.

"Silence!" sa reine commanda. "Tu vas parler quand je te parle. C'est toi qui a perdu, Ladybug. Pollen, transforme-moi!"

Elle cria, mais personne n'écouta pas.

* * *

Les papillons du Papillon se sent comme une vague du noir. Reine Guêpe était mauvaise.

Pollen savait que Chloé serait une bonne personne, et une magnifique reine.

Mais cette fois, Pollen était impuissante. Elle sentait que, peut-être, elle est toujours impuissante, sur les coups de tête de ses porteurs.

* * *

Après le papillon, sa reine a resté seule contre Ladybug.

Elle n'a rien pu faire.

Elle ne pouvait jamais l'aider.

Elle n'importait pas.

Surtout, sa reine l'a trahi.

Mais si elle veut regarder sa reine encore une fois, qu'est-ce que cela dit sur Pollen?

* * *

_ Il pluie dans ta chambre _

_ Tout avoir tort _

_ Il pluie quand tu est ici et quand tu est partie _

_ Parce que j'étais là quand tu as dit _

_ Tous les jours et tous les temps _

  
  


[Note: Minor liberties were taken with the song lyrics to make it sound more poetic when translated.]

ENGLISH

_ Did I say something way too honest _

_ Made you run and hide _

_ Like a scared little girl? _

_ I looked into your eyes _

_ Thought I knew you for a minute, _

_ Now I'm not sure. _

* * *

Chloé was Pollen's queen.  _ Was _ being the key word.

* * *

Contrary to popular belief, kwamis can feel what's going on when their holders are transformed.

The holders, after all, are only human, and are prone to making mistakes. She knows that some kwamis do reprimand their holders, but some don't give a care and some are too afraid. Unfortunately, she's part of the second group.

But right now, she couldn't do a thing if she tried.

* * *

"Majesty, wait!" she said.

"Silence," her queen commanded. "You will speak only when spoken to. Your loss, Ladybug. Pollen, buzz on!"

She yelled, but no one listened.

* * *

Hawk Moth's akumas feel like a wave of darkness, corrupting her transformation she's made. Queen Wasp was bad. Pollen knew that Chloé could be a good person, and a magnificent queen.

But this time, Pollen was helpless. She thought that, maybe, she was always helpless to the whims of her holders. 

* * *

After the akuma, her queen stands alone against Ladybug.

She can't do anything. 

She never could.

She wasn't important.

Above all, her queen had betrayed her.

But what does that say about her, if she still wants to see her again?

* * *

_ Oh, it rains in your room _

_ Everything is wrong _

_ It rains when you're here _

_ And it rains when you're gone _

_ Cause I was there when you said _

_ Forever & Always. _


	3. February 8th - Ivan Bruel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Mylene and Ivan reassure each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was going to be a 5+1 fic. This is the "WIP" side of this, something I said I might finish, but probably won't.

i.

Stoneheart is when Ladybug and Chat Noir come out for the first time, and he feels bad that  _ he’s  _ the first. The first for them to defeat, their first evil they have to fight.

ii.

The school, in general, is afraid of him after - until the akuma start becoming more and more frequent. They're still afraid of another Stoneheart.

He doesn't  _ want  _ to be Stoneheart again. The fact that there is someone preying on his (and others') negative emotions is disturbing.

Ivan knows he isn't exactly the picture of mental health, but still. Just because he has anxiety doesn't mean that everyone needs to dodge him.

He isn't constantly in danger of going to explode, or turning into Stoneheart. He never wants to do that again.

Mylene seems to be the only person who isn't afraid of him being about to burst.

She keeps telling him to believe in himself, that people are just wary because they don't really know him.

They never really did.

iii.

Horrificator fixates on him as Stoneheart fixated on Mylene, and all he can think about is: why wasn't Mylene afraid? It was before the akumas became just as much a fact of Parisian life as traffic or pollution.

iiis.

"I don't know how you keep doing it, Mylene."

"You know more about how, probably, than I do."

"I'm really sorry I was too loud. But-" he offers her a crumpled ball of paper from his anxiety over it. "-these were the lyrics. The sentiment is there, and if you're uncomfortable with me trying to sing them, it's okay."

It isn't really okay.

"I'm sorry you have to do this for me."


	4. February 18th - Wayzz: how to say goodbye?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kwami angst.

A parting is a delicate thing.

Wayzz has been through many a passing, as is the fate of a kwami bound to a Miraculous - move from holder to holder, eternally passing, unable to stop in any way.

Fu is one of the holders he's been most attached to - sure, Fu makes a lot of mistakes. But Wayzz has always been there to help.

Meeting Nino is refreshing - he doesn't quite understand the ways of youngsters, but after he is passed to Nino, he knows the end of yet another era has come for him.

Goodbyes are always tragic.

And as Nino is just on a temporary basis, he doesn't have to say goodbye yet.

* * *

He tries to tell Fu not to do it. That there is a way out. But Fu has always been impulsive, always made shaky decisions. Wayzz is helpless to watch. He knows that Marinette is brilliant and will continue to be.

That doesn't change that he has to say goodbye to two holders.

Nino's identity has been compromised to the very people that they are fighting. He doubts that Marinette will give it back to Nino, as well-suited as he was for the Turtle. And Fu has resigned - taken the cowardly way out.

It isn't cowardice to leave, really. In his heart Wayzz knows that Fu is anything but cowardly. But he still feels hurt, he still feels abandoned.

He knows it's necessary. It's been happening since he was tied to the Miraculous and distributed.

But it doesn't change how it feels. It doesn't change the facts that partings are always difficult, but moving forwards from them is the hardest part of all.


	5. February 23rd - Duusu: spiraling on down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some more kwami angst.

All of a sudden, I am ripped from sleep.

My friend, Nooroo, is there with me. He appears undamaged. But my poor brooch...the winters and the mountains have damaged it.

(Nooroo was buried in a snowdrift, survival made easier.)

I refuse to be bitter about it. Just grateful we both survived.

* * *

Emilie is good. She feeds me. She takes care of me. She makes sure that I am doing well.

Or as well as can be.

* * *

It starts taking a toll on her, the damage. I can feel it starting to corrupt me, too… 

* * *

I know that I am spiraling. But everything is so beautiful…

...and I am so small.

* * *

She falls into the release of a coma because of me. The bad man blames me for ripping her away from him.

He is spiraling too. He’s gone insane over the Ladybug and Black Cat.

* * *

I am put back into the Miraculous. Sealed away.

* * *

She takes me out one day.

Finally. A taste of freedom.

I laugh and I cry and I smile and I let myself be swept away.

* * *

It is a mistake. It is a mistake for her to use me. She underestimates my curse. She underestimates my insanity. She underestimates how much the curse will affect her.

She doesn’t understand.

* * *

I am.

Am I?

What?

AIOSDHFLAWERHAKLSJCNVKJHDFLIWY8R9Q34TQE.KFDH;W345YQ3I4RYJEDHFASKJDHFILWUETYQ3IL4YHJRDHFVLKSHDFLIWEYRLWIUEHYRLQWKEHFMDCHFULERHYQUILWERYQ38Y4TUI5THKJDHVKLSERHT;IERHLIERHGJSDCNV/ERTIWELRHGLKHDF

_ (Within the real world -- Gabriel brews and prepares the solution. He takes out the Peacock Miraculous. Healed once again.) _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay tuned for February 29th's work for Plagg!


	6. February 29th - Plagg: will they tell my story?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Four holders, from over the centuries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title from Hamilton's "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story."
> 
> Warnings for character death, slight gore, and appropriation of real world history.

i. the very first

Drifting around invisibly causing chaos is fun. To an extent.

Being with Tikki is, for certain.

But the first Guardian - the person who ties them into the Miraculous - is the one who first calls them.

They answer questions as best they can, picking up the language quickly so they can communicate better.

The first time they're given over to others, it's complicated. Plagg isn't sure what to do - a corrupt magician is somewhere, and they're supposed to  _ fight? _

Tikki thinks that they should. They should fight alongside the people that the Mage will choose.

Plagg isn't sure if he can trust anyone that much.

But Qianglong is the head guard for the Emperor. As trustworthy as they come in this kingdom. And Tikki's chosen is a girl, cousin in law or something.

But they work well together, in any form.

They get called gods, monsters, spirits, demons.

But in the end they have to move on, as people die and dynasties shift.

ii. the darkest of (k)nights

His name is Arsenius.

Plagg doesn't say it often, anymore. (He actually vowed to never again, but that one failed.) They have a portrait of him up in the Louvre.

But the only reason  _ he  _ rose to fame is because of the evil he created.

When William the Conqueror was sacking Anglo-Saxon villages, he was given to him to help with the crisis.

He's all too lax with his holders, because they normally choose holders that will do what's upstanding and right.

But it isn't always wise to fight fire with fire.

He calls himself the Shadow. He rescues people from the fires where he can, with his enchanted suit of armor. Some accuse him of witchcraft, but no one ever gets enough on him to convict. And he is too much of a hero and not enough of an enemy.

The power Vortex is similar to the Miraculous Healing that Tikki has. But it is a power to fear, for it can erase things from existence. He holds back the power a bit. But it still conjures images similar to what the Conqueror and his armies do in their wrath - and the Shadow comes to save them. This is a brand new evil.

He wins glory for it. Even that portrait in the Louvre. But at the cost of his sanity.

And Plagg is enslaved to the ring.

One night, he takes the ring off of his fingers.

"Goodbye, Arsenius," he says. Plagg vows to never say it again, using the Shadow to explain what exactly happened.

iii. feeling for the first time

It's hard to care about holders after that.

He stays in the temple for a while, helping the Order train new Guardians. Staying in the box, too. He doesn't tell anyone he trains about Vortex. Never again will he have another holder like him.

He doesn't really care about them, either. The Order has said that they're supposed to be compatible.

But he didn't trust that compatibility. Not after the Shadow.

And then the temple burns. He's always thought they were harsh on the young Guardians.

Wang Fu isn't one of his - one of Wayzz's, he thinks - but he still cares. And in revenge for twisting the sentimonster, he claws the Peacock, damaging it. Not irreparably, but enough to make a difference.

And a century and a half later, he's out again.

He acts like an asshole to Adrien - he  _ knows  _ it. But he can't have another Shadow.

And the Shadow was once just like Adrien. Well-adjusted, polite, a bit uptight, experienced fighter…

But Adrien is so much better than the Shadow ever was with his power. A bit reckless with his safety, but he cares about his partner - about as much as anyone can.

Hawk Moth is defeated, but someone else takes up the mantle.

Farfalla is an expert manipulator, always getting her victim through a series of manipulated "coincidences."

But Farfalla is young, as young as they are - and she can't play the game of chess forever.

And Farfalla is defeated.

Plagg is closer with Adrien in those years than he'd been with any holder since his first. He's seen Adrien through so much turmoil in his life. And now it's time for them to part.

The grand evil has been defeated. The Butterfly and Peacock are back in the Miracle Box.

And so he must say goodbye.

But, Marinette and Adrien venture back to the Order to return the Box.

Adrien keeps putting it off and putting it off. He understands. Plagg doesn't want to leave him either.

At the temple, the goodbye is emotional.

iv. a tragic demise

He (along with the rest of the box) is bestowed to a new guardian.

He's activated again when a non-magical criminal is abound.

He isn't as attached to Gale - certainly not how Red was. But the two of them were star-crossed. And bound to meet a tragic end.

Most Black Cat users don't live that long. The Miraculous is a sort of atrophy.

So he knows that his holders could always die.

Adrien...was an exception. He lived longer with Plagg than most do.

But Gale… 

The villain Red and Gale fought was awful - just a common criminal at first, but learned more and more about magic.

"Plagg, claws in," he chokes out. Red's holding him up, supporting him, the gash in his gut bleeding out.

"'Clipse?" she asks. "Love, please…"

He grabs the cell phone from one of his pockets. "The PIN is our anniversary."

She calls emergency services, weeping.

(It takes her a bit to recognize Gale as Gale. They only kind of know each other outside of Eclipse and Red, and she chokes out, "Gale," when she realizes.)

(Plagg can feel his heartbeat fading.)

"I love you, Red," he breathes.

"It's Rue," she replies, but she kisses him one last time.

She takes the ring. The villain they fought is gone - but so is Gale.

The ambulances arrive, but it's too late for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! The Discord's running a March exchange, so stay tuned for my output for that.
> 
> Gale/Eclipse and Rue/Red belong to Pyro - she knows who she is. Thanks for letting me use your characters!
> 
> The second holder mentioned in this is the medieval era holder mentioned in Feast.
> 
> Farfalla is (according to Google Translate) Italian for butterfly.

**Author's Note:**

> [ Join the ML Fanfiction Server!](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks)


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